Filipina Foodie

Archive for the category “Homemaker”

Hello Friends! How are you all doing?! It’s been a while since my last post because it’s been a busy week in our corner. My sister was visiting us for a week, she is living and working in New Zealand. We spent lots of time together, just hanging out and catching up. We also have some exciting news to share, WE ARE PREGNANT!!! It’s been a long journey for us but we are so blessed and thanking God for this gift and all praises to Him. Hubs and I (and our fur baby Riley) are so excited to meet our little babe before the year ends. Baby is due this fall. Looking forward to sharing more of our pregnancy journey with you all!

Hello friends! It’s been a while since I posted some of our dinners that we’ve been enjoying. I’ve cooked every now and then but for the last 2 months we’ve been ordering/take out off and on. I really need to step up because I want to save more money when it comes to our grocery budget.I plan to do that this July! Wish me luck!

This may seem like a lot of food in one post( I even forgot to take pics of some of our dinners), but these are some of the dishes we’ve had for the last 2 months (May and June) excluding some of our dinners out. I plan to make a separate post about that! Happy eating friends!

Hello friends! It’s Tuesday evening ( almost midnight) but I can’t sleep because it’s so windy and it’s freaking me out! I decided to just post our meals for the last couple of weeks in the month of February. Can you believe it’s already March? Where did the time go?! Anyways, back to our meals. I didn’t go to the grocery store in the last week of February but I got some Smith brothers delivered. I’m under budget this month (not by much though), so this made me happy. A little savings is always good!

We’ve already consumed the clam chowder and chocolate milk!

roast asparagus and steamed lobster

Beef stroganoff and egg noodles

grilled asparagus and salmon

avocado with reduced balsamic vinegar

Crispy pata (deep fried pork hocks) a Filipino recipe

bacon,eggs,rice

Easy dinner! Spag and meatballs

we did a couple nights of take out these last two weeks (especially Friday and Saturday nights). Chilling out with good food and watching some good T.V. / Netflix is one of our fave weekend things to do. We got a generous gift card from my In laws to one of our fave local sushi places so we used that. We also had Italian for dinner, courtesy of the In-laws. Thank you God for such a generous family!

Hi Friends! How’s your day going? I hope it was a great one. Mine was awesome! I did my grocery shopping today, I usually do it after my Ladies Bible study on Tuesdays but it’s winter break this week at our local school (the church follows the school district schedule, so no study for us this week). I got some good deals at the grocery store but the cashier forgot to scan some of the coupons (I only noticed it when I got home) that were on the products. $6 worth of savings 😦 I’m not really sure if it’s worth going back to the store tomorrow, we’ll see. Anyways, the first 2 pictures are of my grocery hauls last week, I’m thinking that I probably don’t need to go grocery shopping for the rest of the month because we’re pretty stocked up. Maybe I’ll just buy some fruit (we have frozen veggies that I really want to use) and we’re good. I’m excited because if I’m going to stick to my “plan” I will be under budget this month. It’s always a good thing when I’m under budget with my grocery money! Happy cooking, eating and savings friends!

Hi Friends! How’s your Friday night going? The Hubs and I are watching a Filipino show (On the Wings of Love), I’m so sad it’s going to end soon:(. We’re also watching some NBA games, and maybe Netflix later! We are staying home because the weather is crappy tonight. Windy and raining and Riley is not loving it.

Anyways, I wanted to share my groceries this week. I’m really trying to save in this area because food is getting expensive and if I don’t monitor this it’s so easy to blow the budget in this area. So far our January food expenses have been under budget. I want to continue this trend in February.

Our groceries this week! I also got some milk that I put in the fridge right away.

Was out and about this week and I stopped at Ross and found these Skechers shoes. I have a similar slip on pair like this gifted by my sister and it’s really comfortable. Once I tried them on the shoes had to go home with me! I’ve been wearing them nonstop!

so comfy (it’s like you’re wearing flip flops made with a yoga mat!)

Walmart candles!

I got a new rug for our dining table from Overstock.com!

I’ve been watching the Gilmore Girls on Netflix this week. I’ve seen the first 2 seasons years ago (I was still in the Philippines). So far I’ve been enjoying it.

Rory!

Spoiling my Puss with belly rub!

Have a great weekend friends! Happy Superbowl weekend too! The Seahawks are out so I will be rooting for the Denver Broncos.

Hello Friends! Happy Sunday:) This is what we ate lately for dinners this last week. I hope you get to eat and cook dishes that you’ve been wanting to eat! Have a wonderful Sunday evening, I’m about to watch a Korean drama with the hubs (we are watching Beating Again). It’s been a while since we’ve watched a KDrama here! HA!

Spaghetti and meatballs (we also had a salad that I forgot to take a picture of)

meatballs in the crockpot! easy peasy dinner!

Chicken curry (I sort of followed Pioneer Woman’s recipe)

Kare-Kare

Left over kare-kare (cook once, eat twice, kind of dish!)

Taco Night! we also had sweet potato fries with garlic aioli (homemade! it was delish)

cheap and easy dinner!

We also ate out a few times over the weekends!

We had Dim sum after church today!

Red Robin last night for a casual saturdate with Hubs! used a giftcard for this dinner!

Dinner at RAM (this place is just 4 minutes drive from our house!)

Tacos and Carne Asada for the win!

Friday Lunch date at chick fil-a! I LOVE their spicy chicken sandwich and iced coffee. The hubs likes their chicken nuggets and milkshakes! We’ve been there twice this last week!

Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a great weekend:) I wanted to share a Filipino dish that I cooked early this week, Kare-Kare. It’s an oxtail dish with a thick peanut sauce. Now a days, in Filipino restaurants and homes they use beef, seafood, and other kinds of meat instead of oxtail (I personally like Oxtail). I rarely make this at home (I think this is my second time to make Kare-Kare (but I always order this if we’re in a Filipino restaurant). It’s a comfort food for me! I watched a couple of youtube videos (just searched for Kare-Kare recipes) and checked some kare-kare recipes online too for inspiration. I used my crockpot to tenderize/cooked my oxtail meat (just to save gas, instead of the stove). It was cooking for 7 hours then I finished it in the stove to make the peanut sauce. Traditionally, you mix all the veggies in at the end together with the sauce but I decided to plate them separately this time. I sautéed the eggplant and steamed the green beans and bok choy. The Hubs and I prefer it this way. Last year, when we visited Manila, I remember we had Kare-kare and the restaurant presented it this way too.

Oxtail meat ( I got 4 lbs.)

This is my new crockpot and I’ve been using it a lot lately!

I sautéed some minced garlic(3 cloves) and chopped onions(1 medium), then added the cooked oxtails and broth (approximately 6 cups). You can add more broth for a thinner sauce;let it simmer. I added the peanut butter (1/2 a cup) and stirred until it dissolved. In a small bowl I added 1 teaspoon of achiote powder mixed with 1/2 cup broth,once the powder dissolved I added it to the sauce. The achiote is the ingredient that will give the dish that classic orange color. I then seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper. I didn’t use a lot of salt though because Kare-kare is always paired with shrimp paste when eaten.

Hello friends! It’s been a while since I last posted here. Life got a little hectic. I’ve been wanting to share our dinners since last week but I wasn’t able to. Here’s our meals for the last 2 weeks or so. I’ve been cooking most nights but on the weekends we go out or have take out. I hope you’re all having a good week and happy cooking!

My husband had banana blossom for the first time when we visited the Philippines last year. He really liked it and he’s been NAGGING me to try cooking it for him. We got the blossom at the Asian market and I found the recipe on youtube (panlasang pinoy). He liked it and said I’ll have to make it again(we’ll see!).

Hi Friends! Happy Monday:) One of our “goals” this year is to really be intentional with our family budget. I’m responsible for budgeting, paying bills, getting groceries, and making meals while the hubs earns the money! We’ve already talked/made plans this past weekend about our financial goals for the year so I’m glad that is taken care of. Anyways, I wanted to share our dinners last week (after Christmas) and our menu plans for this week. I did the grocery shopping this week and came under budget (YES!). We have well stocked refrigerators right now and I plan to use what we already have for the coming weeks. Here’s to saving money and cooking at home!

Pork and chicken adobo

Beef caldereta ( filipino version of beef stew)

Chopped pork belly

Bittermelon with eggs,grilled pork belly

Veggie fried rice,chicken shiomai,shrimp

My plate!

Here’s our meal plans for the week:

M: Leftovers (we had beef caldereta; it’s a filipino version of beef stew)

T: Pasta with truffle butter (Ina Garten recipe),salads

w: Pork chop, rice, green beans

Th: Leftovers

F: Take out/Pizza

S: Chili

Sun: Salmon,veggies

*Our breakfast are usually :coffee and toast,yogurt,cereals,oatmeal then sandwiches and leftovers for lunch.

My groceries this week. The fridges are already stocked so I only bought produces that will be good this week, and I got some meat that was on sale that I can freeze for consumption in the coming weeks. Meat prices are getting ridiculous so I try to save money this way.

Hello friends! Just a quick chat here..can you believe it’s almost 2016? Time flies so fast! It’s been a tiring and relaxing kind of day here. Tiring because I did some cleaning and relaxing because I took a nap after! We will have a quiet NYE here at home. We are thinking of just ordering chinese food and watch the Space needle celebration live on TV. Have a great and safe NYE celebration friends!

Sent this photo to my Hubs! Loving his gift to me😛

After Christmas sale (75% off)

Cleaned our closet using the KonMari method!

Removed the Christmas decors on the mantle,we only have the Christmas tree now.